Wichita eagle., 1887-07-01
UP AMONG THE ROCKIES.
The Scenery-Wagon Wheel Gap-Tht
Hot Springs-The Mountain Trout.

The scenery-wagon Wheel Gap-The
Hot Springs-The Mountain Trout.
To the Editor of the Eagle.
1t is doubtless true enough that every
place is as much the center of the world as
any, yet fancy the first thought of the
new conner to here is that he is pretty well
toward some of the outside edges of, or the
jumping off place, at least the American
creation It seems long way Off from
anywhere else, especially as the cool breeze
from the snow capped mountains which is
bracing our nerves contrasts itself with the
heat of our Wichita home which we fed
fIom little over week ago in company
with Mr. E. E. Slade, one of Nichitas
successful and popular merchants. We
started out for rest and change, and when
I tell you the Gap is $500 feet above the
level of the sea you can readily see We Sc
cure that which we were seeking, change,
and it was a radical one, and it is q won
derful, restful place, two hundred miles
southwest of Pueblo, on the Rio Grande
railroad, and thirty miles from Dol Nortes
the nearest trading point and postoffice.
from which we get our mail three times
week. The ride from Pueblo here is a
delightful one, revealing some of the grand
est scenery ever beheld 10 in this or any
other country. A trip to Colorado would
| be incomplete without ride over some Of
its branch railroads that penetrate the noun
tain wilds, winding up the giddy heights
in serpentine form, now and then creeping
along the verge Of almost perpendicular
declivities, with only ii foot or two of
space between the track and the brink,
while tie mountain with its rock bound
surface towers thousands of feet above on
one side and the deepening chasm of the
canon thousands of feet below on the
other. You almost irresistably glide to the
opposite side of the coach and hold your
breath, thus averting what might have
been serious calamity. Then watchig the
iron horse as he groupes his way through
rocky canons, under and through noun
tains of solid granite, putting and blowing
steadily ascending grade of many feet
until at last it is ushered into the beautiful
Rio Grande valley Following the river
by that name from Del Norte
up to Wagon Wheel Gap. the
present terminus of the Del Norte and
Wagon Wheel Gap branch of the Rio
Grande r. r.
WAGON WHEEL GAP
town proper is composed of the station and
three small houses The Gap is half a mile UP
the stream, and the Hot Springs hotel is a
mile southwest of the station on the Hot
Springs creek, which flows past the hotel,
four cottages and the famous Hot Springs
and bath rooms. The virtue of these sui
phur and lithic waters is undeniable, bub
bling up from mother earth at tempera
ture of $50, it is not amiss 10 call them s
pool of Bethesda. They are proving to be
home of mercy" to not few sufferers
The conveniences for drinking and bath
ing are very good, as is the hotel, which i:
under the management Of n. Patten x
Son. These buildings are located in s
lovely little valley quarter Of mile wide
and at the foot of the mountains The
location is truly grand and imposing ane
cannot but remind one of the majesty
and power of the great master hanC
: that formed It, but grandest of all is thu
scenery around the lake, as | have said be
| fore. located half mile above the station
) A mountain of solid gray granite with it
snow capped summit peering through tn
clouds above, has apparently been severed
! in twain leaving narrow aperture viii
. smooth perpendicular walls on eithe
/ side. thousands of feet high, through whicl
l the waters of the Rio Grande flow in foam
: ing torrents down over a rocky bed, de
z scending at the rate of from fifty to seventy
2 five feet to the mile. The weird soUn'
] produced from the never ceasiug roar o
s waters as they rush wildly onward through
a this narrow gorge, mingled with the dis
D NAL wall of the wind as it sweeps throug
the tall pines above, and the occassiona
= piercing shrek of a mountain eagle linger
long in the memory Of the anglers, who
e little belated by heavy "catch" up strear
+ passes through this gap alone and lon
5 after dark. At least we shall not soon fol
e get it, as an eight ounce 70
l. is not the weapon for the game that roar
C over these mountains
The mountain trout is at home in thes
cold sparkling streams, and he holds fu
supremacy in them, and backed up by las
winters Colorado legislature, he is yer
cunning and sauoy. In his habits an
tastes fer the Ely" be is closely related
the New England brook trout, thong
much larger in size, as quite frequent
one is caught that weighs four and h'
y pounds. We have them on the table thrt
:. times day, and we have yet TO hear an.
u one cry enough" We think Of OF
Wichita friends, and We would love to sen
q box of these mountain beauties to then
:, but the Law Of Colorado viii not allow
: which only permits Of catching for yol
own use We have had some the spoE
= and Wagon Wheel Gap will always occuT
ria.s.rt co-ner In our memory $ 5tOr